


(I heard you) Calling in the dead of night

by erciareyes



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Jack is a good friend, Lardo misses Shitty, Set at the start of Lardo's senior year & Shitty's first year at Harvard, Shitty is a mess, Shitty misses Lardo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 11:52:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7267054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erciareyes/pseuds/erciareyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first Lardo doesn’t notice it, not really. She’s busy with getting Shitty’s - no, her room - set up in the Haus and she doesn’t think about it too much. There’s things to do, things to buy and a lot of catching up with Bitty and the other boys, so no, she doesn’t notice it. But the moment she does it hits her like a brick. She hasn’t talked to Shitty in almost a week. His last text message is from almost ten days ago and she answered it but never got anything back from him. It’s weird. She sends him a quick text, asking how he’s doing, if he’s already at Harvard. </p><p>He’s just busy, like you, she thinks, staring at the text, sent two days ago; he still hasn’t answered her and even though she knows she’s probably right, it doesn’t make it hurt any less. They are best friends, they are supposed to talk to each other.</p><p>She doesn’t cry the night she realizes it’s been two weeks, that he probably isn’t going to answer, but she doesn’t sleep either. The next day she goes to the hairdresser and decides to shave half of her head, just because she can.</p><p>She needs a change.</p><p>-----</p><p>After Shitty goes to Harvard, things change and Lardo doesn't quite know how to deal with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(I heard you) Calling in the dead of night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emela/gifts), [CreativeHale (CreativeShadows)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeShadows/gifts).



> This is (probably) the first part of a little series I want to write because there's a lot of potential for this setting, in my opinion. I also just love Shitty and Lardo together. ;) 
> 
> I want to thank Emma for being the most wonderful beta and reading through this so quickly. You are a real gem. I adore you.

At first Lardo doesn’t notice it, not really. She’s busy with getting Shitty’s - no, her room - set up in the Haus and she doesn’t think about it too much. There’s things to do, things to buy and a lot of catching up with Bitty and the other boys, so no, she doesn’t notice it. But the moment she does it hits her like a brick. She hasn’t talked to Shitty in almost a week. His last text message is from almost ten days ago and she answered it but never got anything back from him. It’s weird. She sends him a quick text, asking how he’s doing, if he’s already at Harvard. 

_He’s just busy, like you,_ she thinks, staring at the text, sent two days ago; he still hasn’t answered her and even though she knows she’s probably right, it doesn’t make it hurt any less. They are best friends, they are supposed to talk to each other. 

_I hope we’re not falling apart already,_ her mind continues to worry, but she doesn’t say it out loud. If you say things out loud, they become real and Lardo really doesn’t want that thought to become real. But the days go by and her phone stays quiet except for a few calls from her family and some little texts from Bitty, asking if she needs anything from Stop  & Shop. She doesn’t. She doesn’t need anything but a sign from Shitty that he’s still alive. 

She doesn’t cry the night she realizes it’s been two weeks, that he probably isn’t going to answer, but she doesn’t sleep either. The room feels very small all of a sudden, stuffed with memories she’s trying to ignore and feelings that have never been spoken about. She hates it, everything is wrong. She rips the wallpaper off because it reminds her too much of Shitty and leaves it like that when she finally gets too tired to stand. The next day she goes to the hairdresser and decides to shave half of her head, just because she can. 

She needs a change. 

It’s almost three weeks since they last talked when Lardo finally snaps. She’s sent Shitty a few messages, asking how he is, asking him to answer her, asking if he’s still alive...nothing. 

She kind of hates him for doing this to her. It’s not like he’s obligated to talk to her but they spent almost all summer together. She went to lunch with his horrible family, she was his +1 to his father’s birthday, she cut his hair, she showed him her favourite places in Boston, she…she fell for him and she’d thought he’d fallen for her too. He had promised to call her, to not leave her behind, to stay her best friend. He told her he needed her. She hates him for lying even if she knows he probably didn’t lie, that there is an explanation for all of this. That he still loves her just the same. She _knows_ Shitty, she knows him better than anyone but she doesn’t understand _this_ at all. She needs to understand. 

So she gets up and calls Jack; the middle of the night, she knows it’s ridiculous to even think about him driving her to Harvard at this time, that he needs to sleep. She is convinced he will say ‘no’. 

He doesn’t, even though she knows it’s not fair to ask Jack to do something crazy like this; and yet, for some reason, he tells her to pack her bag and to be ready in an hour. 

Lardo throws everything she can find into her bag, not even caring what she packs and races down the stairs. The whole Haus is asleep, no one sees her, and she writes herself a note, reminding herself to text Bitty in the morning, not wanting anyone to worry about her being gone when they wake.

The drive to Harvard is quiet. Jack doesn’t ask her why she needs to be driven there right this second, doesn’t say anything about her bedhead, her pyjama-clad body or her lack of shoes. He just nods at her, turns the music on quietly and drives until they’re on the campus where he stops the car. 

“You go ahead and go in. Come get me once you’ve told him whatever you wanna tell him, eh?” Jack says. Lardo nods. 

“It won’t take too long,” she promises. 

_It won’t_ , she tells herself, because she knows what she wants to say. She has a speech prepared, short but effective. She’s gonna tell him exactly what she thinks of his lying, unresponsive, rank ass and his stupid moustache and the fact that he thinks he can just leave her behind like the dirty socks he left in his drawers at the Haus. She still doesn’t know if they were supposed to be some kind of gift to her or not; when she asked Shitty he hadn’t answered. It makes her even more furious. What is she supposed to do with those socks? 

She needs to know if she can still call him; but, most of all, she needs to know what to do with these damn stupid feelings, nagging at her like piranhas, hungry for blood. 

She storms up the stairs, knowing what room Shitty’s in; he told her when he got his email from Harvard during the summer. They’d been sitting at the pool, their feet hanging into the water, her fingers tangled in his hair. Room 24, Grays Hall. He had sent her a map back then, already setting a mark on where he’d be. _So you can find me without getting lost,_ he’d said. Lardo remembers laughing about it. She never gets lost, he knows it. 

Climbing up the steps to the building, Lardo quickly looks at the floor plan before running off. There’s a bunch of guys sitting on the stairs as she makes her way up; they look her up and down, one even whistling at her. She throws him a dirty look. At any other time, she’d have gone off at him but right now she wants to save her anger for Shitty, so she lets it go. 

Once she’s arrived on the second floor, she turns to her left and looks at the numbers on the doors. 

20, 21, 22, 23...24. 

She knocks on the door. 

Her heart beats in her chest and she knows it’s not just from running up the stairs. She’s nervous; nervous because, up until now, she’s never been in a situation where she’d wanted to scream at Shitty. Sure, they’ve had little fights before, but nothing major. This though, this is major and she has no idea how to deal with it. She just hopes she gets out everything she wants to say before losing her courage. 

Knocking on the door again, she looks at the clock. It’s almost 2 am but she knows Shitty isn’t sleeping. He’s a night owl; always had been and always will be.

There’s a rumble from inside and a voice mumbles something that sounds like ‘I’m coming brah.’ Lardo knows it’s Shitty, it has to be, but once the door opens she’s not so sure anymore. 

Lardo gasps. It’s Shitty but it’s also...not. Not the Shitty she remembers, anyway. 

His hair has grown out; it looks horrible, strands standing off anywhere, rumpled. His eyes are red and swollen, like he’s been crying and Lardo’s heart clenches. She hopes to every god she knows that Shitty hasn’t been crying. She stares at him a little longer and it hits her: his moustache is ruffled and undone. It looks like he hasn’t taken care of it for days, he hasn’t shaved either. 

He looks like a disaster. 

She gasps again when she sees his eyes widen, feeling her own doing the same as she opens her mouth to say something. Nothing comes out. She can’t say any of the things she prepared, not while he looks like he hasn’t slept for days. 

“Lardo,” he whispers, and for a moment she thinks he’s gonna faint. He just stares at her, like she’s a ghost. His fingers are wiggling at his sides, his feet are shuffling restlessly, like he wants to step closer but he doesn’t do anything. 

“Oh Shitty,” Lardo breathes, walking forward, wrapping her arms around his neck as good as she can given the height difference. She puts her head on his shoulders and his arms wrap around her body like a cocoon, tight and safe. 

For a second, she has to fight the urge to step back, his hygiene alone painting Lardo a good picture of how bad he’s doing. Shitty’s always looked like the type to go unshowered but it’s a fact that he cares very, very deeply for his skin and hair-care routine. He has it all figured out, even when he’s shitfaced and schwasted. Shitty Knight never ever smells of anything except clean, fresh laundry detergent and sandalwood. 

Except now, he does. 

“I’m sorry...I didn’t know you were coming round. I would have cleaned up,” he says into her hair. She shrugs in his arms. 

“I didn’t even know I was coming,” she answers truthfully, heart clenching as Shitty begins to sob loudly. Some of the guys from the stairs look over at them with curious looks, but Lardo doesn’t care, stroking Shitty’s hair. 

“I hate it, Lardo. I fucking hate this place. I hate these douche bros on the stairs because they are racist, misogynistic assholes. And god, the teachers are douchebags as well. I miss all of you guys so much but especially...you. I miss you so much, Lardo.” 

Lardo takes a step back, untangles herself from Shitty and looks up at him, her hands on either side of his face. “You didn’t call. You could’ve called me.” 

“I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. I really want to do this, I want to become a lawyer and change the world but I didn’t think it would be this fucking bad. I’m sorry.” 

Lardo feels her chest clench a bit at the thought. Of course he didn’t want anyone to know, she should have known. Shitty, who always seems so confident; Shitty who is loud, just to cover up his own insecurities. The louder he gets, the more he is trying to hide. She found that out during her first year after he’d gotten a nasty call from his father and had continued to get drunk and very, very loud at a Kegster the moment the call ended. He isn’t drunk now, just insecure. He’s not hiding anymore.

“It’s okay,” Lardo says, stroking his cheek gently before going in to hug him again. “I am here now.” 

They stand like that for a few more moments, just holding each other, when one of the stair guys whistles at them. Lardo flips him off.

“I’ve got Jack in the car,” she whispers into Shitty’s ear. His mouth opens in surprise against her shoulder. 

“Jack Zimmermann drove you here? In the middle of the night? Are you sure?” he asks. Lardo laughs. 

“Yeah. I don’t know why he did it but he did. He’s waiting downstairs.” 

Untangling herself, she takes Shitty’s hand. “You wanna go get him?” 

“Chyeah!” 

They get Jack from the car and then go up to Shitty’s room. Jack doesn’t say anything about the mess or the smell and Shitty starts cleaning up immediately. He tells them which place still delivers pizza at this time of night and then excuses himself because he has some rank flow he has neglected for weeks and needs to take care of right away. Lardo helps him apply his face mask, just like they did back at the Haus and for a few hours it feels like they are still at Samwell. 

When Jack leaves in the morning, saying he needs to go back for practice, Lardo decides to stay since it’s Friday anyway. She can still say she’s sick. It’s only the beginning of the semester, after all. She’ll get notes from her friends to read when she comes back. For now, she feels like there’s something, someone more important that needs her attention. 


End file.
